Wearing a new blue dress, her apple necklace, and a golden tiara, Evie crept towards the door on tiptoes, casting a wary eye towards her mother as she attempted her escape.

"Where are you going, my beauty?" the Evil Queen asked, continuing to sort through an old makeup kit.

"The hairdresser, of course," the girl replied, feeling like a captured criminal with her hand on the doorknob.

"Lady Tremaine's doesn't open until midnight."

"Dizzy will do it earlier." she replied with a haughty air, cocking her head and flipping her hair off her shoulder, "I like to have my hair done when I'm the only one there so they don't get distracted. The last time I went, Ginny Gothel was in there and it was just impossible to get the kind of attention that I deserve."

Cocking an eyebrow, she held her breath, waiting to see if it was enough to be excused for a couple of hours.

"Are you sure that girl knows what she's doing? She is so young and I won't have your looks spoiled by a half-trained two bit."

Rolling her eyes, Evie turned on her heels and flounced through the door; she might pay for it when she got home, but it'd be worth it. After all, she and Dizzy looked forward to this day all year long!

Seeing Auradon through the TV screen was almost like being there!

"Evie!" the little girl squealed, leaping out of her chair and flinging her arms around the older girl the moment she swept through the door, "You're just in time! They just started warming up!"

"Look, look," Dizzy spun around, pointing, "Isn't that Chad Charming! He's a prince, right?"

"Oooo," Evie's knees went weak, "I wonder if he lives in a castle? I wonder how many mirrors it has? Oooo, if only, if only…" She flopped into a chair and scowled, "It's impossible," she muttered, "I'm not even over there."

"Is that a new dress?" Dizzy asked.

"Yes! Do you like it? I just finished it."

"It's beautiful!" the little girl gushed, a bright smile momentarily lighting her face before a frustrated frown took over and she began clearing a stack of books from a table.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, just putting granny's books away," Dizzy answered idly, hoping to disinterest her friend, "She said I could officially work on a few goons and witches if I could mix up a cool new color of hair dye." Sighing, she added, "I'm just not very good at it."

"Oh, can I help?" Evie was suddenly animated, grabbing one of the books out of Dizzy's hand, "I love mixing and matching colors!"

"Let's see..." she continued, quickly explaining some of the properties of different chemicals and how they mix together as she collected a selection of half-filled bottles, "If we mix this, and this, and a little bit of that-voila! What do you think?"

"Wow!" the little girl's eyes were huge as she stared at the bubbly concoction.

"It'll stop bubbling in a minute," Evie added, with a reassuring smile.

"You're so smart, Evie!" Dizzy cried joyfully, "I could never have—"

"No!" the older girl looked horrified, her heart racing with panic, "I'm not! Don't say that! I'm not smart! Princes don't like smart girls! Mother would—"

Suddenly, beautiful Christmas songs burst into the small salon and the two girls sank into their seats, transfixed by the glamour as they listened to songs and speeches about a baby in a manger and how He had come to earth to accept all who would have Him, no matter who they were or what they'd done.

"Evie?" Dizzy asked cautiously, an hour later as the concert began to wind down.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I upset you."

"Okay."

"Evie?"

"Yeah?

"If they believe that stuff that they were talking about then I bet you could be smart in Auradon and no one would mind."

Evie gave an incredulous snort, "Whatever, Diz."

**oo**

A faint blush touched her cheeks as she finished, "I hid it from her that night, but Dizzy made me so happy when she told me that I was smart. She was the first person to see more of me than just my face."